33 Comments

One need only review a comparison of trump's overseas trips, (the Putin embarrassments, shoving a world leader aside, behaving like a petulant child, the constant display of cringeworthy ineptitude, North Korea idiocy and ad nauseam) and then observe Pres. Biden's behavior on the world stage to be reminded that we're better off believing what we see with our eyes and hear with our own ears than any spin the misguided press corps applies to its "reporting" on the orange one. Be sure and listen to the statements of European heads of state and others as well. No amount of glossy coverage will ever transform trump. Like the rest of us he is what he says and does.

Expand full comment
author

i think this story has been downplayed this week by the press. ie the return to normal via Biden

Expand full comment

Trump was, and is, so Not normal the press and many others suffer from a wicked bad case of Stockholm Syndrome. In the case of much of the press it's willful, and dangerous. They resist calling him out for fear of what? I really don't get it, but you and the rest of the Critic Corps are hopefully gaining a following in the news industry, giving them something to think about as all the new corruption details concerning the DOJ, the Big Lie and the Mueller Report continue to surface. Siddown on 'em Amos!

Expand full comment

On several shows on MSNBC I saw clips of Trump’s bad behavior, pushing aside the PM of Montenegro, discussions of his disgraceful press conference in Helsinki, etc. More than once they called that press conference and meeting the worst of any US President. They gave Biden a lot of credit for regaining the trust of the G7 and NATO leaders. As I posted below it seems to be paying off because Rachel has the highest ratings of all cable news shows and in the prime demographic, too. There is money to be made by telling the truth.

Expand full comment

Among Trump's policy accomplishments would be the China tariffs that crushed soybean farmers to the extent that taxpayers had to subsidize them to the tune of $12-billion. All the while the media dutifully reported Trump's nonsense about China paying for the tariffs..

Expand full comment
author

oh geez, the tafiffs. so many "accomplishments"....

Expand full comment

Don't forget the biggest recipients of the bailouts, big Agra.

Expand full comment

Waiting for the press to treat the FG as the madman and con man he is like Waiting for Godot. What they are doing is losing credibility. Everyday I watch less and less of tv news. The Sunday shows are a waste of time. I’m sure I’m not alone in finding truthful reporting somewhere else

Expand full comment

I see how the Presstitues circled the wagon when Joe called that liar Kaitlin Collins out!

Expand full comment

Wow! Right now Biden is giving the reporters in Geneva a stern talking-to. He is calling them out on their wrong predictions for his G7 and NATO meetings and for their negativity in covering those things. He asked them what would happen if he didn’t at least try to deal with other leaders like Putin. Evelyn Farkas is praising him. Mike Minnelli is responding positively too. He pointed out that now that his meetings are over the reporters were trying to ask him about problems at home, not what he accomplished. Biden apologized for getting testy but didn’t back down. It was great to watch!

Expand full comment

I watched that too, thought it was great. Seems it’s knee jerk, former guy type questioning by reporters, as Eric says, they’re addicted to. Press loses when they make the story about themselves.

Expand full comment

I. Need. To. See. This.

Expand full comment

I have asked several correspondents for major papers whether they ever ask republicans to define Critical Race Theory. Since I haven't heard back, I know they haven't. That's just the way millionth-of-a-cent streetwalkers are.

Expand full comment

I love this!!!

Expand full comment

Why cover the FG at all? We rarely hear about the former presidents in the press, as it should be. ‘W’ who? I cringe when he’s reported on by media as tho he’s a serious and sane person as, per Eric’s piece. MSNBC et al have failed to characterize him accurately from the start, thus perpetuating this chummy, light hearted smily reporting from the pundits, as if he were some kind of a passing joke. He’s practically wrecked our democracy for crying out loud. I’m with Lisa on this; never watch the Sunday shows anymore and turn off msnbc after morning Joe; at least they sometimes engage in serious conversation.

Expand full comment
author

i think press kind of addicted, which explains the relentless "Here's the Role Trump Playing in GOP" stories

Expand full comment

Morning Joe sucked up to Trump for the longest time, they are unwatchable. They Benghazied and emailed Hillary to death, while making themselves fodder for Larry Wilmore.. "if Joe and Mika were any further up Trump's ass, they would bump into Chris Christie". When did they apologize for their behaviour? Crickets. Morning Joe and fake feminist Mika are frauds.

Expand full comment

They also poultry procreated the hell out of the Tara Reade story.

Expand full comment

I watch Morning Schmo because from what I have read that is what the DC political power people watch and I want to know what they are up to. They also get some really well-informed guests because of that. It has definitely improved a lot but I agree with you about Mika being a fake feminist. This Morning they had foreign policy experts on to discuss the meeting between Biden and Putin. For the most part it was a good discussion but I was disgusted that they included John Bolton. Someone who was a big supporter of our unjustified, disastrous invasion of Iraq should never be called on as an expert.

Thanks for reminding me about the quote about Mika and Joe being so far up Trump’s ass. I will probably laugh about that all afternoon!

Expand full comment

Can’t disagree, all your points are accurate. Old habits die hard.

Expand full comment

I watch a lot of MSNBC and I strongly disagree that they are not hard on Trump, the Republicans, their voter suppression, the insurrection, etc. Stephanie Ruhle comes on right after MJ and she has been very critical of all of that. She is also very knowledgeable about our economy and critical of Republican lies about it. Nicole Wallace is probably the harshest critic of her former party and Trump. Even Andrea Mitchell has mostly dropped her “neutral” style of reporting. I rarely watch Ari Melber because he drives me nuts pretending to be cool by constantly quoting rappers but he is very tough on Trump and knowledgeable about the law. Joy Reid is hilarious in her outrage over Trump and Republicans. Chris Hayes is no slouch, nor is Lawrence O’Donnell. And Rachel Maddow is excellent and often covers issues that other news outlets ignore. (Told you I watch a lot of MSNBC, though not all in one day.) In fact Rachel had the highest ratings for the first quarter of 2021 of any cable news show, beating both the odious Tucker Carlson and CNN. And that was among the most prized demographic, adults ages 25 - 54!.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markjoyella/2021/03/30/rachel-maddow-has-most-watched-show-in-first-quarter-cable-news-ratings/?sh=4a30baec7505

MSNBC needs to wise up and get rid of Chuck Todd and Brian Williams. The fact that they always give them a prominent role when big stories like the debates are covered tells me the bosses still don’t really get it. And CNN needs to wise up and dump people like Chris Cillizza if they want to stay relevant.

Expand full comment

I agree with you and your apt descriptions of the members of the MSNBC gang you cite; I never watched Ari Melber either 😋. What got tedious for me was the repetitiveness of the reporting thruout the day. I do watch Nicolle, think she’s great. Indeed Chucko needs to go. Especially agree w/ u about morning Joe and dc politicos who watch. Thx for backing up MSNBC and viewers

Expand full comment

Because whether we like it or not, TFG is the head of the Republican Party, and as informed citizens we need to know what they are thinking and doing.

I agree with Eric that the articles must have context, though.

Expand full comment

Not that I'm holding my breath but how is the press going to handle Trump when he's indicted? Are they going to continue to treat him just like any other former president? Obviously this has the potential of being one of the biggest stories in history, a former president being indicted under a criminal investigation. I can't wait for the spin. Of course that's if it ever happens.

Expand full comment
author

oh good pt abt possible indictment

Expand full comment

Mainslime media will frame it as "Democrats overreaching". And how it will create shadows and clouds over Biden's agenda. Even more than the Weekends In Wilmington scandal.

Expand full comment

Thank you Eric for steadfastly countering the press framing which runs counter to truth telling.

Expand full comment
author

thanks, i appreciate it

Expand full comment

tl;dr version: the establishment press, besides giving Donnie an excess of coverage, they still continue to normalize him as much as possible even after being responsible for a couple of hundred thousand avoidable Covid deaths and everything related to the Big Lie. The operative word here really is complicity from the press.

As for the Apple data of Sciff and Salwell, it was not their data subpoenaed but it was caught up in data from the target, a Congressional staffer IIRC. (Target remains unidentified, I believe.)

Expand full comment

The political press is still normalizing Trump because if they portrayed him accurately, they would be unable to keep normalizing the Republican Party which is an ever bigger threat to democracy.

Expand full comment

I don’t know if I can paste in a tweet, but this is on-topic:

https://twitter.com/froomkin/status/1405194578714673154

Expand full comment

Just below that tweet is this gem of a comment:

“WaPo’s new slogan:

“ Democracy dies one disingenuous article at a time." “

Expand full comment

How long will it take for DT to be arrested, incarcerated and tried for treason? The American people need to know that it's in process... in the works... inevitable... whatever, or the faith in democracy and the intelligence of working towards common good that we are trying to recover will be shattered over and over again and pushed down farther into the muck. There has to be a gigantic force of will to make this happen. If we let this one get away we'll regret it, at least for the rest of our lives on earth.

Expand full comment